veteran's group and the chamber of congress supported it, traditional republican voices one would have thought. but you're right the isolationist trend that is dominating the votes. >> and a person's ideology getting in the way of what would have been a tremendous benefit globally. >> eliot: thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me j that's "viewpoint" for tonight. i'll see you here tomorrow. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, hey, hello everybody. bill hey, good morning everybody. welcome to the full-court press here on current tv this tuesday morning, december 11. getting close to that big day of christmas. but i'm not sure we're any

closer to a deal to escape going over the fiscal cliff. good to see you this morning. welcome again to the program. and we welcome your calls at 1-866-55-press. in other big news, the supreme court has decided to hear two cases on marriage equality but why even bother to hold a hearing? hey, there's no doubt about it. under the constitution, it is wrong to discriminate against anybody for any reason. so, of course, gays and lesbians have every right under the constitution to marry each other. there is no doubt about it. we'll talk more about that today and a whole lot of other issues but first, we get the latest. here she is with today's current news update, lisa ferguson standing by in our studios in los angeles. hi lisa, good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. nothing on the president's public schedule today. he just has his usual briefing in the oval office followed by lunch with the vice president. the first lady will be visiting

the children's national medical center in d.c. and reading to hundreds of kids there. the department of housing and urban development's annual report is out showing that the number of homeless people has remained the same over the last year at about 634,000 americans. now, this can be seen as somewhat of a positive sign that the fact that homeless rate has remained steady despite the struggling economy. it is bad news in terms of the government's goals. in 2010, the states announced a plan to end the chronic and veteran homelessness by 2015 and to end homelessness among children, youth and families by 2020. the government is making some good progress. homeless rates in the veteran community has fallen by 17% by 2009 and there are 17% fewer homeless people than there were in 2007. but considering today's numbers those goals to end homelessness completely within the next few years with pretty much

impossible. assistant housing secretary mark johnson says what the housing and urban development department would need is a ten-fold increase to its $2 billion budget. $20 billion does sound like a lot of money and it is but think progress put some of that in context. that's the same amount taxpayers subsidize the oil industry and it's less than americans spend on their christmas decorations. we'll be right back. (vo) this friday current tv presents a special event. >> nobody knows disasters like comedians. that's why for my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy, i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. so tune in next friday for my all star comedy special. >> together we can get new yorkers back to yelling at strangers and ignoring our friends.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. bill yes indeed. president obama in michigan, joining the fight against the right-to-work legislation.

good morning everybody. it is tuesday december 11. you're watching the full-court press here on current tv and you're listening to it on your local talk radio station and on sirius x.m. this hour. welcome, welcome, welcome to the program. here we go as we tackle the issues of the day here on this tuesday, december 11. and, of course, give. >> chance to get involved in the conversation. not just to hear what's going on but to talk about what it means to you. you can follow us on twitter at bpshow and we'll read a lot of your comments on the air. you can follow us on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. you can give us a call at 1-866-55-press and you can join the chat room yourself and talk to other listeners and viewers to the program this morning across the nation.

go to current.com. follow the click to the chat room and you are in. you're look good this morning. good to have you on board with team press here this morning. peter ogborn and dan henning. hello, guys. >> good morning. bill phil backert has the phones and cyprian bowlding on the video camera, the video part of the show. so peter what's up -- what's up? mariachi band this morning? ♪ there we go. to me, it is a mariachi shirt. >> it is a western shirt. how dare you get the two confused. bill could be a southwestern shirt. welcome, hombre. >> happy to be here, gringo. >> you don't call it a mariachi shirt.

>> i've never heard the term mariachi shirt. i think you just coined a new term. >> mariachi bands wear colorful shirts like that. >> they have whole outfits. this is a western shirt. >> it could be a mariachi shirt. >> whatever that is. >> i'll show you some time. take you to some of the great mariachi restaurants in l.a. >> thank you. >> i think ben nelson needs a shirt like that. >> to go with his hair? >> to go with his hair. ben nelson, retiring senator from nebraska. he does have a big head of hair. people, including me, always thought that was not his own hair. >> i never thought that was his actual hair. >> harry reid told us on the floor of the senate yesterday where they were paying tribute to the retiring ben nelson that it ain't no toupee. >> that hair -- that is a mop of real hair.

it is often that people call his office, they believe he has a toupee. it's his hair. he'll pull it for you any time just to show you it is real. he has hair like a 15-year-old mr. president. and so i have to acknowledge i'm envious of his hair. bill i still don't believe it. >> neither do i. >> why don't go on to the hill today and go and pull his hair. find out for yourself. >> i would be tempted to. >> ask and he'll pull his hair for you. bill, can you pull your hair for me to prove it's real. >> mine is real! >> yours looks real. his doesn't look real. >> no, it doesn't look real. >> go up to him with a big fan and see if it blows off. >> i'll tell you, if so, he's not the only one on the senate floor who wears a toupee. i'll tell you that. quick story senator -- oh,

senator from delaware tom carper -- >> joe biden. >> no, but before the one who retired. senator williams i think it was. he had -- joe biden told me this actually. years ago. senator's name. damn. he had like three or four toupees. >> really? >> right. so it looked like his hair grew to where he needed a haircut. [ laughter ] he would put the one on for one week and then the next one and then the next one. >> is this john williams? >> i think you're right. then it would look like he needed a haircut when he went back to the short one. >> that's brilliant. that's so good. >> i tell ya. if you go to cheat you may as well cheat all the way. >> commit to that lie. >> speaking of cheating, that's

what the republican legislature in the state of michigan is doing. we'll get into that and tell you all about it. igor volsky will be here. tuesdays with igor for think progress. we'll talk to reporters from politico and "huffington post" about what's going on here in our nation's capital. then very excited to welcome a law enforcement officer to the studio today from law enforcement against prohibition to talk about their opposition, their problems with cops being asked to go out and make pot arrests. they think it is time to ignore that kind of silliness. we'll get into all of the issues but first -- >> this is the full-court press. >> on this tuesday other headlines making news, south carolinians want stephen colbert as their next senator. new public policy poll finds that 20% of palmetto state voters want the comedy central star to take the seat being vacated by jim demint ahead of the 15% that warrant congressman tim scott in there.

governor nikki haley will appoint someone to fill the term that expires in two years. >> all right. i don't think it will be stephen colbert. >> it won't be stephen colbert sadly. >> unfortunately. in hollywood, charlie sheen wants a little appreciation from lindsay lohan. sheen gave her an unspecified amount of money to help with her financial troubles. he spoke with et and it was about $100,000. he has gotten not so much as a thank you from her. even a text message saying thank you. >> or a hug. something. buy him a margarita. i guess you don't buy charlie sheen a margarita. >> that's the last thing you do. >> the american film institute released its top ten films of the year yesterday. on the list, the dark knight rises, argo, zero dark 30 next week. lincoln, moonrise kingdom.

life pi, les miserables -- >> that's not out yet either. >> and silver linings playbook. films will be honored at an event in hollywood next month. >> those are some pretty good films on the list. pretty good flicks this year. and still about two or three of them are not even out yet. they come out in the holiday season. all right. let's take a look at what's happening in michigan. it is an outrage and something we've got to get organized about and something we've got to fight. a new target. a new enemy this morning and that's governor rick schneider of michigan who has -- stabbed working families, working men and women of the state of michigan in the back. this is a state of course that was built by labor unions, has one of the highest percentages of union membership anywhere in the country. a state known for its union support and a state that really

has been -- saves by labor unions particularly the autoworkers agreeing to significant cutbacks and benefits and salaries and everything to keep the auto industry afloat. as part of the auto bailout. of course, this is just the latest in this war on unions that we've seen. it started with scott walker in wisconsin. went on to ohio. and john kasich, we've seen a lot of it out of florida. we've seen a lot of it with rick scott. we've seen a lot of it of course in new jersey with chris christie. particularly in the midwest there's been this blatant war on unions. the latest is rick schneider, a guy who was just recently elected who says the last thing he wanted oh, no, no, no, he said this publicly, privately we heard this yesterday from steve cook, head of the michigan education association was a guest on our program. the union leadership was working, meeting with governor schneider and he said no the

last thing i want is -- i don't want to split this state the way they did in wisconsin and ohio. no no, no. i don't want anything to do with that. i want to work together with the unions. i don't want anything to do with this rumors that they might try to pass some so-called right-to-work legislation in michigan. they met for like about ten days and then on friday, the republican-controlled legislature forced through -- get this now -- with no public hearings no debate on the floor, no members of the public allowed to testify for it or against it, no members of the public even allowed in the state capitol building when they passed this bill it would make michigan the 24th state to have the so-called right-to-work legislation on the books. they forced it through and then

rick sha nidor in a total turnaround, a total flip-flop a total double cross says oh, i'll sign that bill as soon as it gets to his desk. it's not on his desk yet. it could get there today because the legislature votes on it today. it is important to know what this legislation is all about. it is in 23 states. it is called right to work. what people -- people have called it correctly. it is the right to free load. president obama didn't hesitate or waste any time jumping into this fight at all yesterday. he came out and said here's what so-called trite work does. >> obama: these so-called right-to-work laws, this dee have anything to do with economics. they have everything to do with politics. what they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. bill exactly. that's been the case wherever there is right-to-work legislation. the president said this is just a first step toward trying to do

away with collective bargaining the way they tried to do away with it in ohio and failed because the voters overturned it and the way scott walker was able to do with public employees in wisconsin. >> obama: i gotta say this, what we shouldn't be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages. >> so what these laws do is they say that okay, where there's a union and voters have voted to form a union and get all of the benefits in terms of -- through collective bargaining by the way, through collective bargaining to get better salary, better working conditions, better safe working conditions, better retirement benefits, that right to work says is where there is such a union and the benefits exist, somebody can opt out. don't have to pay their dues if they don't want to but they still get all of the benefits. in other words, it is nothing but a -- an invitation to free load and in those 23 states, most of them southern states

most of them red states, by the way, where there are right to work so-called. right to work laws. experience has proven, the workers there get lower wages. they have worse working conditions and the poverty rate in those states is higher than it is in other states. so it is bad bad bad news. particularly the way this came down in michigan. and there's no doubt about why they did it. let's get into it. 1-866-55-press. you tell me what's going on in michigan and we'll give you a way to join the fight against it, by the way. just to make that point there's no doubt about why they're doing it because republicans know that while they get all of the money from the big corporations, democrats get -- not just money from labor unions, they get workers, volunteers, they get the ground game. the ground game is manned or personned, if you will, by union members in state after state after state and of course, it is a ground game that won for

president obama. so republicans are trying to destroy unions in order to destroy the democratic party. you think it will work? 1-866-55-press. and you know what gets me? there's a much cheaper way and a much more direct way for republicans to get some of that labor support that usually goes to democrats if republicans would just vote for a living wage. if she would vote for work and families. if they would vote for the jobs bills instead of killing them all. if they would vote to extend unemployment insurance every time instead of opposing it. if they would just vote for what working families need, hell, unions would support republicans. they don't care. they support politicians who support them. so we can't let this happen in michigan. we're not going to let this happen in michigan. we're going to join all of the unions our union brothers and sisters in fighting back against this. peter, how can people get the word in because rick schneider says he'll sign this. we have to change his mind and tell him no, you cannot sign

this. it is bad for michigan and the country. >> we've put it out on twitter at bp show. the contact info for rick schneider, the union busting governor of michigan. michigan.gov/schneider. 517-373-3400. believe it or not, his twitter handle is onetoughnerd. >> get out. >> find us at bpshow. >> let's put the pressure on rick schneider. we'll talk more about it here. >> announcer: this is the bill press show. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays now at 9 and noon eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: heard around the >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: we're talking about the war on working families now. the latest battle front is the state of michigan. by the way didn't mention there in the first segment that the koch brothers, of course, are right in the middle of all of this. the "the obama hate machine" having failed to dislodge obama now failing again to destroy labor unions. they were the biggest -- big big, big contributors in the campaign against the measure to put -- to enshrine collective bargaining in the michigan constitution. that initiative on the ballot november 6th which failed sadly in michigan. the koch brothers helped kill it. and now the koch brothers are of course, fueling this

so-called right-to-work legislation and it's american legislative exchange council alec, that wrote the legislation that the michigan legislature adopted. peter, how do we weigh in on this? >> go to bpshow on twitter. we have all of the information there. right now, we're tweeting the governor rick schneider who his twitter handle is onetoughnerd. find him there under michigan.gov/governor. >> bill: let's break that one tough nerd. if you go to our web site, you'll get his telephone number and e-mail address. don't sign this legislation! one final point, "new york times" reporting this morning the average wage in right to work states for average worker, $57,732. in states without right to work, in other words, in all of the rest of the states which allow unions to organize and don't

allow people to free load, the average wage is $65,567. i mean -- there's no doubt about it. right to work states, lower wages, worse working conditions, higher poverty rate. >> how do people keep voting the politicians in? they give them -- worst quality of life. >> bill: because they lie. rick schneider lied. he said he didn't want this and he wouldn't sign it and he reversed on friday. larry is calling from york pennsylvania. what do you say, larry? >> caller: you stole my under thunder. you have this in wisconsin. you have a little bit in ohio. but thankfully they were smart enough to figure out what was going on. you know, they keep voting these clowns in and their playbook is the same. they know what the republicans are about. they know what they're going to do. while, you know, i want to vote for the white guy so i'll vote for him. now they get this and their hair is on fire. what are we going to do?

what are we going to do? you know they kind of made their own bed here. >> bill: stop voting the morons here. big lesson here to learn. sometimes i think we pay too much attention to u.s. congressional races and not enough to the governors races. those guys are killing us. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." director, omb director. and i'm just blanking a little bit. i think his phrase for it was about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: got it. it's a tuesday! tuesday, december 11. good to see you today. and thanks for joining us here on the "full court press."

lots of issues in the news today. and we keep on top of them by -- tune into think progress. thinkprogress.org. there it is. there is the agenda. not only what's going on but good analysis of all of the issues of the day thanks to igor volsky, the deputy editor who is also -- crazy enough to join us at this early hour in the morning. >> nice and early. >> bill: nice to see you again. >> thank you. >> bill: we're talking about something you've written about. right-to-work legislation. suddenly rearing its ugly head. this is the first time in a couple of decades. >> they passed in indiana but since then, the last one i think was back in 2000. so this has been quiet for awhile. now we're back. >> bill: rearing its ugly head. rick schneider governor of michigan doing a total double cross of his supporters. he said he didn't want this to happen in michigan. he didn't want michigan to become like wisconsin and ohio.

oh, yeah? peter, what's -- social world saying this morning? >> we're tweeting at bpshow at bpshow and by the way we did give the rick schneider's contact information on twitter. it is also on facebook. facebook.com/billpress. one little bit of clarification because someone was a little concerned. rick schneider's twitter handle is onetoughnerd. it is all spelled out. it is not like the number one. you have to spell out onetoughnerd. >> that's a lot of characters. >> that's it. find him there. we're getting your comments on twitter. jim irwin writing us why do people in michigan and other states keep electing republicans to governors and majorities in their state legislatures? call this what it is. right to work for less money. al and mary tweeting i live in a right to work state arizona. right to work equals low pay. right to work equals anti-union.

an ex-republican on twitter saying people of michigan, when you vote for republicans, this is what you get. one tough nerd tweeting directly at rick schneider now wisconsin had their chance and they blew it. >> bill: again, with all of the focus on senate races, house races and the white house you know, people sort of forgot how important the state legislature -- legislative races are. and governor's races. i have to tell you i'll say you elect republican governors this is what you get. >> this is what happens. they say one thing one election cycle. after the election cycle, it is a whole different story. >> bill: you can't trust them. there's no doubt why we're going after the labor unions. >> no! it is getting at the democratic power base, plain and simple. unions vote for democrats and so that's the problem and that's the political population. >> bill: i keep putting out the reason the unions -- look and make no bones about it, all right. i am a 30 plus year union member. proud of it. and this show is 100% sponsored

by the various labor unions that we mentioned. and we're grateful for their support. no doubt about where my loyalty lies. but i know so many of these union presidents so well and those who run their political operations. they would be happy to support republicans. if republicans would vote for their agenda but when they vote to kill every jobs bill. they're always against extension of unemployment benefits and against the living wage or right to organize or collective bargaining. anything that benefits working families, they vote against it. so no wonder unions end up supporting democrats over republicans. in most of these races. there are exceptions. the late arlen specter right? god rest his soul. arlen specter always got labor support because he was a republican supported labor unions. there are a few. >> shrinking. >> bill: few and far between. before we move on to other issues and your comments, welcome about this.

phil is out in spokane washington. hey, phil, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> bill: early morning out there on the west coast. >> caller: i'm a cook county democrat. and a steelworker. the fact of the matter is i want the right wing to step up and take responsibility for the ripple effect of air-traffic controllers because every time somebody dies in a right to work state, a coal mine and yes, in the gulf, that blood is on their hands. i've been -- osha becomes two-fer and the worker becomes -- indispensable. for the fact of the matter is every time a right to work state emerges, you have jim crow for the working man and woman in that state. he has no right. that's all i've got to say this morning. >> bill: hey phil, i appreciate your weighing in. it is true that in state after state after state evidence has

shown not only are wages lower but working conditions in terms of health and safety for employees are a lot more perilous and as phil points out that has consequences. igor, so your comments still welcome on that at 1-866-55-press. think progress has been on top of a lot of other issues. reporting in a story that you personally wrote president obama to begin an all-out drive for comprehensive immigration reform in january. >> based on what white house sources are saying, based on what he promised certainly in the election, remember he went on the univision forum and said failure to pass immigration reform was big in the first term. he promised it in the second term. i think when you look at the other side of the aisle, there is this broader understanding right after the election, we saw it from people like sean hannity, some of the republicans, marco rubio very

publicly saying the party -- the republican party, if it wants to survive moving forward needs to do something about immigration reform. needs to bring latino hispanic voters into the party. now, the question is going to be how they do it. because republicans like rubio say let's do a piecemeal approach, maybe some kind of dream act bill. maybe some kind of work visa. policies that house republicans can vote for. the president what he is going to be calling for this is starting in january, maybe in the state of the union address he'll kick it off. maybe soon after is comprehensive reform. with a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country and you know what? it's past overdue. i think a lot -- the labor groups, a lot of the hispanic groups who got this president-elected are going to work with him on this. >> bill: the president has been criticized particularly by latino organizations for not doing -- not even making an attempt to do this in his first

term. the white house response is look, we always wanted to do it but we know the votes aren't there because people like john mccain, who supported this under george bush, oppose it as soon as it is president obama's idea. so even if there's some softening on the part of the republicans, you find that the president is determined to make this push now, to spend some political capital. >> he has the capital. sounds like he will get a deal with the fiscal cliff. that he can go to his base and say here's what i got you. so it sounds like he's going to come out of this latest negotiation strong and so he's going to be able to use that, as you say, use that capital. use that clout to try to get something done and it's very encouraging. you have lindsey graham from south carolina who now probably isn't going to face a primary challenge. because of the demint seat now. working with senator schumer from new york, trying to work this out so if there's any positive repercussions from the

demint thing is the fact that lindsey graham might now be more likely to work with schumer graham one of the leaders on this issue and work with the democrats in general to try to get something done. it failed -- the talks failed in 2011. this is another shot. >> bill: well, you know, it is -- it is time for this issue. way pastime. way pastime for this issue. >> use the presidential bully pulpit to get this done. the question is what exactly is the tactic? is he going to send a bill to congress? is he going to take a backseat like he did with health reform? i think the white house learned some lessons with what happened with health reform. with letting max baucus take the whole thing over. i think they're going to learn from those mistakes moving forward. >> bill: igor volsky is with us from thinkprogress.org. yesterday on november 6th first of all the voters from colorado said we want to -- we think that the recreational use within limits, of marijuana

should be legal in colorado. yesterday governor john hickenlooper signed this into legislation. he is not happy to do so. dan, we've got the first byte of him where he's saying he thinks this may be evidence of the country moving in the wrong direction but he still signed it. >> this transition to a more per messive society is happening all across the country. >> bill: more per missive society. so the question, igor, is -- and i tried to get an answer out of jay carney at the white house briefing and he would not answer it. what's the federal government do? >> what does it do. they issue -- >> bill: because it is against federal law. >> they issued a clarification last week when it became legal in washington state saying you guys be careful. this is still a federal issue. we know in poll after poll, the great majority of americans say let the states lead. let the states decide. voters are already on a

different page than the federal government. and you know, the administration, i think, has been hesitant to address this issue. any time the president does one of the social media things like a twitter thing that's the number one question. they just kind of back away from it and let doj lead on this. >> bill: your story on this yesterday, you said was the -- got the biggest number of hits? >> the story -- the poll from 64% of americans saying let the states lead on marijuana legalization was the most popular story on think progress. >> bill: i wonder why peter. why is it we get such a reaction whenever we talk about it here on this program. and at the top of the next hour, correct me if i'm wrong peter in the next hour, yeah, we have a law enforcement officer from baltimore coming in. he's part of low enforcement against prohibition. don't think cops should be

spending their time on marijuana laws. we'll continue our conversation with igor volsky and your calls coming up next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." now let's hear yours. >> politically direct means no bs, just tellling you what's going on in politics today. (vo) at the only online forum with a direct line to bill press. current.com/billpress

(vo) this friday current tv presents a special event. >> nobody knows disasters like comedians. that's why for my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy, i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. so tune in next friday for my all star comedy special. >> together we can get new

yorkers back to yelling at strangers and ignoring our friends. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: it is 13 minutes before the top of the hour. top of the next hour, we'll be >> bill: we're talking with igor volsky from think progress in studio with us. talking about the issues of the day. right-to-work legislation rearing its ugly head. so-called right to work in michigan. president obama set to really push for comprehensive immigration reform.

back to your calls on all of the topics at 1-866-55-press. first, i was at a -- quick word, something you ought to consider which is tryancestry.com. i was at a great holiday party saturday night and a woman walked up to me and wondered if i were any relation to must be the son of frank press. who was a science adviser under president nixon. i said no no, no. no relation to frank press. i know who he was but actually my ancestors i come from delaware city, delaware. my ancestors came from salem new jersey. i found out recently that my ancestors came to salem new jersey into philadelphia from latvia and she starts looking at me and said how do you know all of this? i said i know because i've been on this great site called ancestry.com. here in the middle of a cocktail party selling this product. i urge you to try it, too.

they'll give you two free weeks if you go to ancestry.com. discover all you can about your family before you then decide whether or not to sign up. it is a perfect time to do it this time of year to find out stuff about your family roots then when your crowd gets together for the holiday party you can impress them with everything you've learned. go to tryancestry.com. peter, what's happening here? >> we're tweeting at bpshow. some fantastic responses to our information we gave you to get in touch with rick schneider the governor of michigan. it is onetoughnerd. spell it out. >> bill: who would ever have a twitter handle onetoughnerd? >> rick schneider apparently. we're tweeting at bpshow. we've gotten great responses. >> bill: one bad ass republican is what he's trying to say here. >> kenneth glen tweeting people think they're richer than they

really are. that's why they vote the g.o.p. lawmakers into office. dan driscoll says attacking unions in michigan, you're destroying the republican party in michigan for at least a decade. your choice, one tough nerd. shelley brown says -- >> bill: that's a good point because he's bringing the wrath of god down on michigan. >> 2014 is going to be a big big race then. >> shelly brown says have a heart, especially at this time of year! whom do you serve sir? and one final one on that theme this time of year, truth prevails says i hope your visit from the ghosts of past, you're on the wrong side of history dude. >> bill: president obama jumped on this right away. >> good for him. >> bill: i've talked to several of the union presidents yesterday who said they're going to put -- full push here. what they're trying to do is because they have tho tweak it today in the legislature, the governor has said he will sign it and what they're trying to do

is two fronts. one is to convince the governor no, you were right the first time when you said you would not sign it. so don't -- just reverse course here and go back to where you started. and what he promised. not to sign it. and the other is trying to get a measure added to the initiative which would put it up immediately for a vote of the people like the collective bargaining issue in ohio so the people of michigan would have a chance to ratify or repeal what the legislature has done. >> this sounds like it was suddennen in that democratic leaders were meeting with him for awhile and got the sense he was backing off and then -- >> bill: oh, no. total. >> then you have like the koch brothers come in and a lot of the conservative pressure and that's when you flip on thursday really -- i think shocked a lot of people when he filmed that video and said let's do it now. >> bill: absolutely. we had the leader of the michigan educational association in yesterday, steve cook who told us they were meeting with

the governor and he was meeting with them as a way of avoiding this and then he suddenly -- >> out of blue. >> bill: on pearl harbor day friday, stabbed them in the back. quick word from bob is calling from michigan. almont michigan. >> caller: how you doing bill. this is my first call. i always watch you guys in the morning. this schneider guy, he ran on that one tough nerd thing. he was trying to differentiate himself from the other republicans. >> bill: oh. >> caller: that's the whole thing with the one tough nerd. then the first thing he turns around and does, he takes and starts taxing retirees pensions then he takes and now they're talking about this stranded thing. they're talking about adding $20 per month to the licensing fees for vehicle plates. they're talking about tacking 25 cents per gallon on to the gasoline tax. >> bill: whoa! >> caller: we're up there right now, i think we're second or third for gas taxes. i voted for him because i really

swallowed hook, line and sinker thinking this guy would be okay. and now, i mean, his word is -- you know, trash as far as i'm concerned. >> bill: yeah. bob, you know what. that's what happens. s they guys -- bob, so much appreciate hearing from you and thanks forwatching. tell all of your friends. but they just lie. >> independent business person, not tied down to the person, not ideological. that all changed on thursday. a little koch brothers pressure and there you go. >> bill: a little koch brothers money and there you go. i'll tell you we beat john kasich. we battered up scott walker. too bad we didn't beat him. now, let's beat the hell out of rick schneider. go to billpressshow.com, we'll tell you how to get in touch. igor volsky, thank you for joining the fight. we'll come back and get some more reaction to what's happening in michigan. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. flooded with twitter comments and e-mails and phone calls about this right to work battle in michigan. we'll continue to talk about that this morning throughout the show. ann says hey bill, this is what slays me. people aren't able to make a decent living, they won't be able to buy things. all we hear is rich corporations are the job creators.

henry ford found out if the people making things aren't making a decent wage they won't be able to buy the things that they make. what i'm saying is the american workers are the job creators. boy, you got that right! absolutely! everybody knows it but rick schneider. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning, everybody! and welcome to the "full court >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is tuesday december 11. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. we start the day on current tv, kick off the day by bringing you

up to date on what's happening in this great land of ours and taking your calls and getting your comments any way you can at 1-866-55-press. it is our toll free number. where you want to weigh in on the issues. good to see you today. and by the way here we go again. we fought scott walker in wisconsin. we fought john kasich in ohio. and now the next battleground, we've gotta gear up to fight rick schneider in michigan. just the latest republican governor to try to destroy the democratic party by destroying labor unions, taking away their rights of collective bargaining. we are not going to let it happen. more on that and a whole lot more here on today's "full court press." but first the latest headlines from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. house speaker boehner is facing some intense pressure, not just when it comes to the fiscal cliff, but also over his ability to remain head of the house.

several members of the g.o.p. have already hinted that they will not vote to re-elect him. just yesterday the conservative interest group american majority action endorsed georgia representative tom price to replace boehner. the group is launching a lobbying effort, trying to get more rank and file republicans on board with that vote. for now, boehner is not in any danger and a spokesman says price will not challenge him but house members can vote for anyone they choose come january 3rd. when it does come to the fiscal cliff, both boehner and obama say they want more specifics. the president is promising $400 billion in reduced entitlement costs but boehner's office wants more details on what exactly those will be. and boehner is claiming he will increase tax revenue by limiting deductions and loopholes but has still failed to specify exactly which ones. at a michigan plant yesterday obama said he's willing to compromise on some things but not on higher tax rates for wealthy americans.

and south carolina voters have spoken out in the latest poll. they want comedian stephen colbert to replace retiring senator jim demint. according to public policy polling, 20% of registered voters want to see colbert in office. the runner-up goes to rep tim scott with 15%. more bill press coming up after the break. stay with us. you're about to watch an ad message created by a current tv viewer for capella university. matter. >> i work with adults with developmental disabilities. growing up i had a single mother of four and people in the community were so helpful when they didn't even have much themselves. seeing people and their hardships made me want to make a difference in people's lives to give them hope. receiving a masters degree would open the doors for me to get into a management position where i would be able to do more for

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have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the war against unions has spread from wisconsin to ohio. and now to michigan. what's wrong with these republican governors? good morning everybody. what do you say? good to see you this morning.

thank you for joining us here. it is the "full court press." we are coming to you live across this great land of ours. coast-to-coast. from our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. join us, join the conversation at any time. tackle the issues of the day and tell us what they mean to you. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. give us a holler on twitter at bpshow or on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. we've got the whole team here assembled this morning. and we're joined by money man. a man who writes the morning money column for politico. chief economic correspondent ben white. nice to see you this morning. >> nice to see you. >> bill: welcome to the program. joining our team, peter ogborn, dan henning flying the 747.

>> good morning. >> bill: cyprian bowlding keeps us on -- in focus on camera. >> he makes us look this pretty. >> bill: well sometimes. he keeps us on focus. sometimes deliberately. >> the little soft core fantasy lens here and there. >> bill: fuzzy thinking. fuzzy math. >> that helps some of us who need a little blurriness in the morning. >> bill: phil backert has the phones there ready to take your calls. it is a -- i dropped off some christmas cards rather at the post office the other morning. long lines at the post office. long lines everywhere today. fedex telling us yesterday that fedex set a new milestone yesterday. >> busiest day in history. we expect to pick up over 19 million packages companywide. >> bill: 19 million. one day. >> wow. hopefully that's good economic

news. >> a little early for me. a little early for me. i like to really push that. >> gy to the 24th. >> exactly. i'm not mailing anything. has to be in person. >> bill: people would be better off using the united states postal service or ups than fedex but that's just my preference being a union man. but at any rate, it was a big day also i think for the usps and for ups as well. we've got a lot to get into today. ben white to talk fiscal cliff with us. we're talking to amanda terkel from "huffington post" in the next hour. little little bit later in this hour, major neil franklin with a group called law enforcement against prohibition, they're not happy with so many police officers spending so much time chasing pot. we'll get into that with him. but first -- >> this is the "full court

press". >> the most memorable quotes of the year. the top two belong to mitt romney. number one -- the number one most memorable quote is the 47% comment that was caught on video. number two is binders full of women. and a quote from president obama is number three. that was his you didn't build that comment. also in the top five, the president's horses and bayonets jab during the debate. >> bill: yeah. we can do that until the end of the year. pull our favorite clips from the campaign. >> bill: 9-9-9. >> some of the clint eastwood stuff could have been in there. >> bill: newt gingrich and the moon. >> plenty of talk about people shaving hair in washington

arrive brad woodhouse from the dnc buzzed his head and david axelrod shaved his mustache. the president was asked if he would ever consider shaving his head. joe biden said yes and he would do it just for the fun of it. it wouldn't take a charity fund-raiser but he said he would only do it when republicans start talking sense. >> bill: oh, yeah. >> he's paid a lot of money for that hair. he's not going to shave it off. >> joe biden doesn't need a reason to do something crazy. >> congress was supposed to get back to work last night but didn't because of the weather. senate majority leader harry reid had to cancel a 5:30 p.m. vote because of fog. many lawmaker's flights were canceled because of the weather here in d.c. votes don't often get canceled because of weather. it happened during last summer's storm and then during the snowmageddon of 2010. >> bill: the senate could not work because of fog.

>> irony is rich. >> bill: ben, i have to ask you. there's so much speculation about sunday's meeting at the white house. president obama and john boehner, mano y mano, eric cantor wasn't there nobody else in the room with him. and what does it mean, if anything? >> i think it means that they're at least talking and neither of them came out afterwards and said, you know, we're -- there's no chance for a deal. i think the less we hear in terms of a deal being made, the better. the fewer the leaks the fewer the complaints. the more the likelihood we get a fiscal cliff agreement at some point. there's still obviously the chance we go off the cliff. i think that's pretty unlikely to come to some arrangement on the tax increases. offset by entitlement reforms. the big question is what would democrats agree to and can the

president bring them all along? he had that conversation with harry reid from air force i yesterday, i believe. which is significant in the sense that if we believe he's now trying to craft some sort of compromise deal, the democrats will accept, that we'll have some changes to social security and medicare that won't cause a full revolt in the democratic party. that's the big question. >> bill: first of all on the tax rate, do you think the president -- first will republicans accept any increase in the tack rate for the top 2%? and will the president accept anything less than 39.6%? >> i think on the first question, the answer is probably yes. i think john boehner has difficult task in selling that to his caucus and increasing the top rate. i think at the end of the day they know have to do it. the american people are there and are willing to accept an even desire seeing the top rate increase. tea party caucus, still a hard

right that's against it. but i think he finds a way to sell that to them. so i think the answer to that question is yes. >> bill: before we move along the g.o.p. fire wall, you've reported really, there are more cracks in the fire wall every day. >> there are. some of them are on the senate side which is less of a problem i think. corker and some others who have been a little bit more moderate on the issue. you've seen a couple of cracks among house republicans cole and some others. it has been a little bit less -- more muted than the senate side but i think there's enough there that eventually they'll accept it. it is of course what they get in return. they're not going to come out and say okay, fine, we caved. we're allowing the top rates to go up until they've got something they believe they can take home to their constituents and say okay, we gave this up. we had a question on obama. the answer to that is yes, he will eventually accept 37%. he needs to get the win on the tax rates going up but i don't

think he can get a deal that goes all the way to the clinton era rates. i think he is willing to accept something. >> bill: it seems to me, as a liberal, progressive that if he gets 37% 37.5% or whatever, he will have won. tax rates will have gone up on the wealthiest. the bush era tax cuts would not have been extended which he's vowed not to. >> i think that's a big win for him. >> bill: so why do -- and why do entitlements -- so-called entitlement reforms, i hate that fraidz actually because i concern them earned benefits but why do entitlement reforms have to be part of the package at all and why should obama cave in on those? >> i think they have to be part of the package simply to get republicans on board to agree to a rate increase. that's a huge psychic and political leap for them. particularly the house republicans who believe their majority is based on a commitment to oppose tax

increases under any circumstances so they're willing to make this big leap and i think they believe ideologically and politically to have some changes to entitlement programs long-term. they can say we've cut spending, both discretionary spending and it is a question of what they are. >> bill: we're talking social security and medicare, right? >> yes, we are. >> bill: now you know, you're a money man. social security has nothing to do with this deficit. why should it be part of the equation? harry reid has said it won't be, right? >> he has said it won't be just like republicans have said we won't allow any tax increase. on social security, the only thing you're likely to see is something on the cost of living adjustments to move from the current cpi to the chain cpi which takes the somewhat less generous approach to calculating increase in benefits so you might see that. you're not going to see raising of the eligibility age for social security. i doubt you'll see it on met

care because reid won't accept that and democrats won't accept that. you can make the argument and you're right that social security is not part of this deficit argument and should be left alone. you can make that political and economic argument. in terms of what republicans are willing to do, whether social security winds up being part of it i'm not sure. medicare might be more likely. you might get the changes. but they're going to need some entitlement reforms in order to swallow tax increase. it is just a political reality. >> bill: or the other option would be go over the cliff. >> right. >> bill: or go over the slope. >> i'm not in the slope camp. >> bill: you're not in the slope camp. >> not because it's not a slope in terms of the onset of the spending cuts or the impact of the tax increases. that is over a period of time. and can be mitigated sometime next year. it is more of the psychological impact of the markets and to consumer confidence. we already see consumer confidence dropping significantly in a lot of the recent reports you saw. the reuters consumer confidence number go down a lot.

university of michigan reuters. people are starting to worry about this. they're taking it more seriously. they're worried about going back into a recession. they're going to adjust their spending accordingly. it is very negative. you get people pulled back on spending. that makes what could be a mild recession a worse recession. >> bill: people talk about okay, we're not going to take any entitlement reforms. if that's the price republicans demand we won't pay the price. we'll go over the cliff and come back in january with more votes in congress. democrats have more votes and republicans are in a weaker position. probably the most likely, at least the latest polls show the public would blame the republicans for this more than president obama. and then come back with a law to do what you want to do and have a better chance of getting it passed. >> yeah. >> bill: in early january. >> do republicans come along in early january? they'll still have a house majority. they'll still have the ability to block what democrats want to

do then you'll have the debt ceiling come into play and the administration is going to need an increase in that in order to keep the government functioning and to stop another credit rating downgrade. so i'm not sure that this magical idea that you come back in january with a couple of more senators and a couple more members of the house and you know, you can get the deal you want that includes you know, the tax rates you that want and the changes -- no changes to social programs and also, i think ultimately president obama does not want a recession in his second term. he doesn't want to preside over an economy that's doing poorly and it is going to stop other pieces of his agenda. i think he really wants to see something get done by the end of this year to prevent that from happening. >> bill: ben white is our guest, author of the money corner on politico. before we take a break, ben, you mentioned the debt ceiling. i wanted to ask you about that next.

you know, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not the debt ceiling should be part -- even though it doesn't come up until january. should be part of this deal in december. so you get it all done in one fall swoop right? you don't have partial deal and then have to come back and fight armageddon again in january. is it likely to be -- put together or republicans demand because they see that that's their big chance to hold the country hostage again for something else they want. >> that's their leverage next year. some of them who are willing to accept the higher tax rates realize that they'll have much more leverage next year with the debt ceiling to force of some cuts that they want. but at the same time there's not a huge appetite among republicans to go through all of this again next year. they got wiped out on it on 2011. ibm why would they want to do it all over again? >> they think they can force stuff that they want to have happen. i would say 50/50 on whether the

debt ceiling gets wrapped into a fiscal debt deal. i think a couple of the tweaks to entitlement programs, that they would be willing to wrap the debt ceiling into it. they're not going to give obama what he wants which is permanent authority to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally. that's not going to happen but they could get a single debt limit increase. the economy would benefit from it and corporate america desperately wants to see it. they hate the finagling of it. >> bill: we saw jeff saying let's get it done so we can move on. >> 50/50, that gets wrapped in. >> the money man. one tough nerd -- no, that's rick schneider. >> please don't wrap knee me in that. >> bill: his twitter handle is at morning money ben. we'll be right back here. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. are we ready to go over the cliff? do you think we will? do you think we should? 1-866-55-press.

>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv.

let's rock and roll. there is so much going on that every day presents another exciting issue. from financial regulation, iran getting a nuclear bomb, civil war in syria, fraud on wall street, destruction of medicare and medicaid. there are real issues here. having been a governor, i know that trade-offs are tough. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. i want our viewer to understand

why things have happened. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 27 minutes now after the hour. tuesday on the "full court press." >> bill: ben white in studio with us. in the next segment, we're going to be talking pot. in this segment, we're talking pot of money. >> i'm more comfortable in that area.

>> bill: petr, what's going on? >> we're tweeting at bpshow on twitter. want to remind everybody we gave the contact information for rick schneider. >> bill: rick schneider of michigan, convince him not to sign the so-called right-to-work legislation which will be heading to his desk today. >> yep. all of the info at bpshow on twitter. reach out and touch someone at 517-373-3400 is his office number. you can find him on twitter. believe it or not it is at onetoughnerd. you spell all of that out. onetoughnerd is rick schneider's twitter handle. >> bill: information up on the web site. >> on facebook.com/billpress and twitter at bp show. >> bill: you can find ben white on twitter at -- >> morning money ben. >> bill: there you go. >> a lot more than just money being tweeted there by the way. >> it is a lot of sports and complaints about various hotels. complaints about amtrak and

acela. if you want news about the redskins -- >> this is your man. >> one stop shopping at monday morning ben. >> bill: what's wrong with acela? >> the wi-fi doesn't work. >> bill: it works off and on. >> it works off and on. for a guy like me who has to write on his way down to washington for these things, it is frustrating. as everybody hits me on twitter it is first world problems. it's true. i whine about stuff that's probably insequential. but acela if you could get the wi-fi together, i would appreciate it. >> bill: otherwise, it is a damn good system. >> it is a damn good system. it is too expensive on the acela front. but i'm also -- rail travel. i love amtrak. i would much rather do that than fly any day of the week. if i could sit down with them, we could work some things out. >> he's a problem solver. >> i am. >> bill: i'm a big acela -- i would never fly to new york. >> i love acela too.

but i've got some things i could help fix. >> bill: you helped us a lot this morning. nice to see you. thanks for coming down from new york. special trip on the acela. come back again next time you're in town. >> love to do it. ibm check out ben white at politico.com. >> this is the "bill press show." >> nobody knows disasters like comedians. that's why for my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy, i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. so tune in next friday for my all star comedy special. >> together we can get new yorkers back to yelling at strangers and ignoring our friends.

tell them it's like being nestled in an eight-way, adjustable, heated and ventilated seat surrounded by a 500-watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. or you could just hand them your keys. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i don't know. first time on the show and he's got his own theme song already here. >> nice, dan. >> bill: good morning everybody. 33 minutes now after the hour on the "full court press." this tuesday morning.

december 11. good to have you with us today. so happy to welcome into the studio, major neil franklin is a 34-year baltimore and maryland state police veteran. he's now executive director of a group called leap which is law enforcement against prohibition. major, nice to see you. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me here. >> bill: a little background. you were actually drug enforcement officer at one time and now you're on the other side of the issue. >> yes, i spent most of my career working undercover and then managing, commanding drug task forces. >> bill: in the war on drugs. >> on the wonderful war on drugs. >> bill: what changed your mind? first, what do you think about the war on drugs? >> it has always been a complete and total failure. and it is not just a failure. you know you think of something as a failure you think it is like dormant right. ignored, just laying there. this is very aggressive. this policy is very aggressive. it is very aggressive in what it

costs us. it is very aggressive in put youing people in prison. it is very aggressive in violence foundation for most of the violence that we have in this country and in central america. >> bill: and would you say -- aggressive in the sense of sapping the time and resources of police departments as well? >> absolutely. absolutely. you know, there is another piece of this that people generally don't think about. and it is what it has done for the policing community. you just played that theme song from the wire when we opened up here. there is a character, and he says to one of his sergeants one day in that series, he's in his office, the sergeant is sitting there and he says to the sergeant, you know, this drug war has ruined this profession. and it has. it has driven a huge wedge in between police and community. and it is like we're at war with

each other. it is us versus them mentality. and the culture that now permeates the policing world is not good. it is not good for this country at all. >> bill: people see law enforcement officers, right as just -- >> think about it. take baltimore. take chicago. take detroit. the main reason police inappropriately stop mainly young black or latino men in our cities is because of the drug war. they're looking for drugs. they're looking for marijuana cocaine, heroin. the problem is the police begin to treat everyone as though they're a drug dealer in those communities or that there's someone possessing and using and selling drugs. and therefore if they do that, you know what they also commit violent crimes. >> bill: that's the argument we hear all the time. the drugs lead to -- getting access to the drug leads people to commit violent crimes

therefore you get rid of the drugs, you get rid of the violent crime. >> the violent crime comes from the policy. and people need to understand that. it is the policy that is responsible for drug dealers being at war with each other on the corners. it is the policy that prevents users from getting -- people who are addicted just like alcoholism, people who are addicted, it prevents them from getting the proper treatment that they need. and because they have to be creative in how they get their money to support their habit and the stigma that comes with that, they break into your cars and homes and they rob you and they commit violent crimes. now if we treated this as a health issue they wouldn't be doing that. you know. if we enabled a way for them to get what they need to manage their addictions, then they wouldn't have to rob and steal from others. to manage that addiction. >> bill: i -- >> i can't tell you how happy i am that you got the reference to the wire.

i hope everybody got that because my favorite story line was when bunny opened up hamster dam and he set up an area for people to buy sell used drugs in this one area of baltimore and crime everywhere else plummeted. plummeted. i thought it was a really smart way to show just how bad and how futile that war on drugs can be in a city like baltimore. >> now although that piece of it was fiction it makes a lot of sense! it makes a lot of sense. because think about it. the guns that permeate our communities today, they're tools of the drug trade. that's all they are. because when i first started working undercover in the late '70s and early 1980s we didn't even carry guns as police officers working undercover. what does that tell you about what the culture used to look like before we started you know, bringing down these large organizations. opening up the market so others

could fight each other to fill the void. you know. now guns have become tools of the trade. you don't dare work a case unarmed. not today. >> bill: i'm sure that -- >> as a matter of fact that's the main reason i made this 180-degree turn because i had a close friend of mine working undercover, right here in washington, d.c., back in 2000. he was working on a task force with the fbi buying cocaine and he was assassinated by a drug dealer. that woke me up. >> bill: whoa. i can see that. so what is the answer? is the answer what we saw in colorado and washington state this month or last month? >> that's part of the answer. >> bill: legalization of recreational marijuana. >> that's part of the answer. >> bill: do you think all drugs should be legal? >> absolutely. i hope your listeners -- you didn't fall out of your seat so i'm glad about that. i hope your listeners don't do the same. maybe they're still in bed

laying down listening to you. but when we say legalization, we're talking about regulation and control. currently there is none. you just pretty much say okay, here you go. organized crime and cartel and drug dealers, you manage it. you give it out to our kids. you don't ask for i.d. you create all of this violence in our neighborhoods. that's what we currently do. we don't have coors and anheuser-busch shooting it out in our street as they manage their alcohol within our communities, do we? >> bill: right. >> that's so refreshing to hear. a man who has seen the face of drugs more than any of us have and just says legalize it all. regulate it. it is such a smart take. >> you know, people also think that if you do that, it is going to be more access to kids. absolutely not because right now, here in washington, d.c. or baltimore, you know, on just -- even this early in the morning you could probably find anything you want. and our kids can find anything they want. they're not carded.

no one asks for i.d. all they need is the money to buy it. but more importantly i think is that, for instance, liquor stores, whether privately-owned or state-owned they don't hire kids to peddle alcohol. drug dealers hire kids, force kids into the business to sell to other kids and to sell within our school systems. >> bill: certainly if you can keep to a large extent, alcohol and cigarettes out of the hands of kids and not allow them to buy it. not allow them to access it, we could do that with other now illegal substances. >> absolutely. bill, that's a good example. >> bill: how do you start major? do you start with pot and then work your way up? i mean look, i've been around a long time in terms of legalization but you gotta admit, that's a big hill to climb. particularly when you have the federal government and the president, every president since ronald reagan has signed on to the war on drugs to my dismay.

even barack obama is a former user. >> not just one product. >> bill: he of anybody would understand. >> how do we start? first of all we've already started. the trend is shifting. it has been shifting for quite some time now. so with colorado and washington states with marijuana we've already started. absolutely. but let's go back to 1933 when we ended alcohol prohibition. i don't think you had a whole lot of people sitting around saying how do we start? how do we end alcohol prohibition. you know what they did? they ended it. you know what? and then they managed it from there. what happened when they did it, immediately, al capone went out of business. he was no longer, you know, traveling where -- his cronies traveling the streets of chicago shooting up the place and you know, it was moms, mothers that really band together and said let's save our children. let's free our children from this bootleg industry.

and become a part of it. and they also realized that alcohol had become much more dangerous because there were no quality control standards. so you had that bathtub gin where a lot of people were dying behind -- think about it today. the drugs are not only more plentiful in our streets but they're more dangerous. because of quality control measures. we have controls mixing this stuff in back rooms in trailers and who knows where and putting who knows what in it. we've gotta make this whole environment safer for everyone. >> bill: you know what always gets me, if you -- politically it seems to me, this should not be a liberal republican, conservative or democratic issue. >> you're right. >> bill: but as a -- if you look as a conservative and your goal is to get rid of government programs, that cost a lot of money, waste a lot of money and accomplish nothing boy number one on the list would be the war

on drugs wouldn't it? >> you want to get rid of $2.6 billion being spenter year. -- spent every year. this is one agency. remember, the d.e.a. was created for one purpose. richard nixon put them together for only one purpose. that is the war on drugs. so you know, i know that we need some of those employees from d.e.a. to manage the pharmaceutical industry. so you dissect that small portion. and you send them over to food and drug. and you get rid of the rest of the enforcement side of the d.e.a. there is a couple million -- billion right there. we can get rid of it tomorrow. >> bill: so i think the message is let's just say no to the war on drugs. >> well, we're addicted to the war on drugs. >> bill: major neill franklin our guest here in studio. so glad to hear you bring this message to the program. 1-866-55-press. our toll free number. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "full

court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. conversation started weekdays now at 9 and noon eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of

his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 12 minutes to go before the top of the hour. in the next hour, we'll be talking with carrie about the supreme court deciding to hear two case related to marriage equality. right now, we're talking about the so-called war on drugs. in studio with us, major neill

franklin is the executive director of leap, law enforcement against prohibition. we've got some -- major i'm sorry, some comments here from our viewing audience. >> we tweet at bpshow all throughout the show. you can find us there. follow along with us and our guests. rusty canon on twitter says the only success of the war on drugs has been the very profitable, private prison industry. get your take on that, major. >> that's not the only success. >> bill: they certainly benefitted from it though. >> they're one of the big benefit factors of it. >> bill: do you know what percentage of the prison population is drug related? pretty high, isn't it? >> it is pretty high. it is somewhere and half. i don't know the exact -- it does change. it has slightly declined somewhat. but not nearly where it needs to be. and mostly -- get this. mostly for nonviolent drug

crimes. see, that's the point here. here we are in this country 5% of the world's population in the united states. but yet we house almost 25% of the world's prisoners. and most of that, most of those folks who are in prison are there because of the drug war. and the disparity issues is another problem because, for instance, blacks are roughly around 13, 13.5% of the population in the country. but yet we're -- we're housing -- we're arresting them at 30 something percent. at the rate of 30 something percent. mainly for nonviolent drug crimes. look at new york city. new york city in 2010 and 2011 was putting over 50,000 people -- arresting almost 50,000 people each year for just marijuana possession. okay. >> bill: yeah.

>> 86% of those arrested were black and latino. >> bill: wow. >> in new york city. right. >> bill: so tell me a little -- tell us a little bit about leap. law enforcement against prohibition. so you are all law enforcement -- current or former law enforcement officers, correct? >> yes. the unique thing about our organization. we're a nonprofit international organization but the unique thing about our organization which is ten years old this year we spend the whole gambit of the law enforcement arena from first contact with police who make the arrest of individuals on the street. then to the prosecutors criminal prosecutors. we have judges, former judges who are members. then into corrections so we have correctional officers and prison wardens who are members. and then parole and probation. we even have federal agents. the entire law enforcement industry. >> bill: can a federal agent

be a member of leap? in a sense he's condoning breaking the law by doing so. >> no. we're not condoning -- this is one thing people need to understand. we have active law enforcement members in our ranks. now they do what they have sworn to do. they uphold the law. they make the arrests. they follow the policies. but they don't go over and above like many police officers do. but they do what they're required to do. but as citizens, we're still citizens. we need to advocate for better policy. for safer policy. we realize that these policies of prohibition are actually counterproductive to public safety. we also took an oath to protect the citizens and now we realize the policies do just the opposite. so as a citizen, you have to do your job and advocate for better policies and you can do both.

here is a quick example. >> bill: please. >> gun control right. i'm not for radical gun control. as many liberals are per se. in maryland, we have gun control laws. you couldn't carry a gun on your person unless you had a handgun permit. i personally believe that as a state trooper that a good citizen should have that right to carry a gun. without a permit. however, i came across many people, good citizens who did not have a permit. but had a gun. i arrested them. even though it was against what i believed. so i could still do my job even though i believe something else. same thing here. >> bill: if people want to get in touch with leap, it is -- >> it is www.leap.cc or cops say legalize drugs.com.

>> bill: copssaylegalizedrugs.com. >> i like that. >> that's easy to remember. >> that will stick with you. >> bill: listen, i love the fact that you're out there. i love what you're doing. we need more of you and more voices and more leadership from the law enforcement community. i think that's what's going to turn it around. >> we're growing every law enforcement, judge cop criminal prosecutor to go to our web site and please join us in ending this perpetual disaster. >> bill: you have a great leader in major neill franklin. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: leap. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. ... and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv. [ ♪ theme ♪ ]

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i don't know. i just don't understand -- three minutes before the top of the hour. i don't understand why conservatives aren't leading the fight, the charge to get rid of the war on drugs. get rid of the drug czar. it is so inefficient. it is so ineffective. it is such a colossal waste of money. >> yeah. they want to do right -- >> bill: they're freakin' hypocrites. they want the government to enforce their morality. they don't care if they waste money doing it. seriously. if they're really concerned about cutting the deficit, they would start with the war on drugs. i wish president obama would. all right. speaking of the president not a lot on his schedule today. pretty quiet day. gets the daily briefing this morning with the vice president at quarter to 10:00. and then he and the vice president are meeting for lunch in the private dining room.

that tells me that there's going to be a lot of fiscal cliff negotiations privately going on throughout the day. or else maybe he's going back to ohio. who knows. jay carney will have a briefing at 1:00 and i will be there and i will tell you all about it tomorrow. oh my goodness! oh my gosh this looks amazing! [ male announcer ] our new maine stays! 15 entrees under $15 seafood, chicken and more! oo! the tilapia with roasted vegetables! i'm actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. that pork chop was great! no more fast food friday's! we're going to go to red lobster. yep. [ male announcer ] come try our new menu and sea food differently! and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. salad, sandwiches, and more.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hello friends and neighbors, fellow americans good morning and welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. it is tuesday morning. december 11. i'm bill press. liberal and proud of it. proud to bring you the only

progressive morning show anywhere on cable television. called the "full court press." are you part of it. you can really be a part of it by letting us know what you think about the issues at 1-866-55-press. we're talking a lot this morning about michigan. yes, indeed, we fought scott walker in wisconsin. then we fought john kasich in ohio. now we have to gear up to fight rick schneider governor of michigan, just the latest republican governor to try to destroy the democratic party by destroying labor unions. we didn't let john kasich get away with it. we took on john walker and now we're going to take on rick schneider as well. stop him in his tracks. we'll tell you how to do it. but first let's get the latest. today's current news update. lisa ferguson standing by out in los angeles. hi lisa, good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. senator john mccain is joining the senate foreign relations committee next year which could put him in a spot to grill susan

rice if obama chooses her as his next secretary of state. as we've seen since the benghazi attack, mccain is one of rice's harshest critics. the two met late last month along with other senators to discuss rice's television appearances during the aftermath of those september 11th attacks in libya. rice hoped to put mccain's fears at ease but he came out of the meetings saying he only had more questions than when he went in. mccain spokesman says he will seek a spot on the international affairs panel which oversees the state department. republicans have said they would rather see john kerry as circumstance -- secretary of state over susan rice. hillary clinton is still polling very well after her stint with the state department and democrats are practically begging to see her in 2016. according to the latest abc news, "washington post" poll, 57% of people say they would support her run. although abc is reporting today she said she'll most likely

devote her time to her husband clinton's foundation to focus on women and girls worldwide. the u.s. treasury department is selling its last shares of aig. four years ago taxpayers took over as much as 92% of the company in a bailout effort to save the global economy. ben bernanke said that made him more angry than anything else the u.s. did to avoid the recession. we'll be right back. viewer for capella university. matter. education is the key. it is the vehicle. it's the way in which we evolve. every journey is different every possibility is unique. but the beginning, the beginning is my craft. i'm an ordinary person striving to achieve extraordinary things. it started with a dream and i'm on my way there.

but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections tuberculosis lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections,

have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill priss show. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: he calls himself one tough nerd. guess what. rick schneider is going to hear from us. governor of michigan trying to destroy labor unions in the mold of john kasich and scott walker.

we took them on. we'll take him on as well. good morning everybody. here we go. hour number three of today's "full court press." good to see you today! thank you for joining us on current tv. and on your local progressive talk radio station. if you're lucky enough to have one. whether you're listening or watching, good have you with us today on this tuesday morning december 11. as we tackle the big stories of the day. of course, get your comments, what it all means to you. tell us on twitter at bpshow on facebook facebook.com/billpressshow or just the old-fashioned way. give us a call. phones still work. 1-866-55-press. in studio, good friend of the program, carrie he would he would have who used to cover the white house briefings for the advocate and now taking time off to do some writing and do some media work.

>> that's right. kerry, what's going on? >> busy times. in terms of gay rights, lgbt rights. >> bill: including the supreme court last week. >> wee! >> bill: with the bill press crew. thank you for being here. >> we wouldn't be anywhere else. >> bill: read the contract. >> good point. >> is it right to work right here at bill press? is that what this is? right to work studio? >> bill: we are a union shop. >> we are a union shop. >> bill: and proud of it. >> okay. >> just wanted to get that clear. >> bill: president obama making a big pitch for organized labor yesterday. he went to michigan which is the battleground today.

and first of all he talked about how bad this effort to push right-to-work legislation in michigan was. and then he went to the daimlerchrysler plant and saluted the workers and the products being made there in the u.s.a. >> obama: the word's going out all around the world. if you want to find the best workers in the world, you want to find the best factories in the world you want to build the best cars or trucks or any other product in the world, you should invest in the united states of america. [ cheers & applause ] >> bill: this is what daimlerchrysler is doing. they announced yesterday $120 million invested in expand the plant this year. >> obama: today, daimler is announcing a new $120 million investment into this plant creating 115 good, new union jobs. building transmissions and

turbochargers right here in redford. >> bill: a lot of good news on the job front there. that's redford michigan. the president yesterday. talking about what the supreme court is up to with the courts. and then governor schneider flip-flopped after promising not to sign it. he said he would sign it if the right to work gets to his desk. first, dan with the big headlines of the day. >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. members of congress rack up thousands of frequent flier miles each year traveling between washington and their districts. one congressman from georgia is donating his miles from this year to charity. the hill reports democrat john barrow is giving 79,000 frequent miles which will use the miles to help wounded soldiers and

their families travel. he reportedly donated his miles from last year. 68,000 of them as well. >> bill: good for him for doing that. good for him for choosing fisher house. great, great organization. >> absolutely. >> yale university is out with its list of the most memorable quotes of the year. those that carried through the headlines and became mainstream. the top two belong to mitt romney. number one quote of the year, most memorable his 47% comment. and number two binders full of women. a quote from president obama is number three. [ laughter ] >> obama's quote "you didn't build that" is number three on the list. also his horses and bayonets jab at romney during one of the debates. >> the romney quotes, you could do all ten with romney. he had so many -- he stepped in it so many times.

>> bill: i like the binders full of women. now the republicans are saying bring us binders full of latinos. >> and the american film -- >> bill: some day they'll say bring us binders full of gays and lesbians. >> i would like to be number one on the list. >> the american film institute released its top ten tv shows and tv movies. on the list, american horror story, breaking bad hbo's game change game of thrones homeland louis mad men walking dead. >> i get on board with most of those. >> wow. >> everybody loves that show. it didn't make the list. >> bill: 12 minutes after the hour. so kerry the supreme court surprising the community the world last week by first of all

they didn't hesitate and several people -- back in the civil rights era the court waited -- it was much more cautious then. they waited decades before they would take a case for interracial marriage. >> right. >> bill: but with this one they jumped both feet into the marriage equality issue taking not one but two cases. tell us about it. >> so first of all let me make this point as long as we're going to make that comparison which is an interesting comparison. they may have waited decades to take that marriage case in virginia in 1967, right. but when they decided that case, 70% of the american people still believed that interracial marriage shouldn't be legal. they decided in favor of that case and there were 70% of americans still against interracial marriage. at this point, you actually got far more people, american people who are in support of same-sex marriage. 50%, 51%. >> bill: it is not as bold as it may seem.

>> here is the other thing. interracial marriage at that point was interestingly -- it was legal in 34 states. at that point. when the supreme court took it -- >> bill: already legal? >> it was already legal in 34 states. so the supreme court, at that point, overturned it in 16 states. that means that 34 states have legal interracial marriage even though 70% of the people were against it. so actually, the laws at that point were ahead of public opinion whereas the laws now are behind public opinion so in that way, it is an interesting comparison too. you're right. they took two cases. everybody thought they were going to take a case that was sort of narrowly tailored to overturn section three of the defense of american act and section three prohibits the federal government from recognizing legal state-sanctioned marriages in the nine states that now have legal same-sex marriage. >> bill: plus the district of columbia. >> plus the dict of columbia.

thank you. >> bill: this section has been ruled unconstitutional. >> about ten times now. i think it is actually ten times. the interesting thing, i saw this morning in the news and i think it was reported in the washington blade but now that the house g.o.p. like paul clement, the guy who's defending doma for the house right because the u.s. government stopped defending it. >> bill: the administration will not defend it. eric holder, barack obama say no. >> not doing it, right. they've spent $1.5 million over the past two years the house g.o.p. and paul clement spent $1.5 million defending this. that's your tax dollars going to work fellas. just want you to know. and they've reached their cap now. so apparently they can't do more. so i don't know what they're going to do. >> bill: they'll give them more money. >> they'll have to go back and get more money. it is really amazing that that

kind of money is going into defending this thing. >> bill: i don't want to be defending doma. >> right. >> so the other case they took -- everybody expected them to take the doma case, right? it has been declared unconstitutional ten times. that section in particular. and but the other case was the proposition 8 case. most legal observers thought that the supreme court would stay away from taking what's known as the perry case, commonly called the perry or prop 8 case. this case is -- the case where california voters invalidated same-sex marriage -- >> bill: the supreme court in california said yes yes marriage equality is -- is legal and should be allowed. prop 8 on the ballot -- fueled by the mormon church and the catholic church. >> that's right. >> bill: passed which overrode the supreme court -- >> overrode the supreme court. >> bill: now ted olson and david boyd are together odd couple, trying to overthrow prop

8. >> most people thought what they would do was -- this has been a legal battle for the ages, right. it has gone back and forth back and forth but ultimately, that proposition 8 has been overruled in the courts twice now right. first by judge walker in the ninth circuit court and then in the federal court of appeals in the ninth circuit right? and so that's been over -- it has been overturned twice. proposition 8 has been invalidated twice in the courts and what they thought was the supreme court would pob probably just let that stand and it wouldn't make same-sex marriage you know, legal nationwide. it would only apply to the ninth circuit. and then california marriages would continue immediately after -- as soon as the supreme court said we're going to let that stand. we won't review the case. now they're going to review it. it is a wild card. the supreme court once again showing that you just don't know what they're going to do. as my friend joe sudden way has said to me, there is no nate

silver for the supreme court. >> bill: but the court could say prop 8 was -- they could recognize same-sex marriage in california. they could say this should be the law nationwide. or they could say it is up to individual states. or they could say it's unconstitutional. >> right. >> literally, all ropings on the table. they can go big. they can decide the case on the merits which is whether or not gays have a constitutional right to marry. or they can decide it more narrowly which is what the court of appeals did in the ninth circuit which is to say that voters can't take away rights that have been already granted. which is a more narrow ruling. >> bill: the question that i've seen in leaders of the -- some leaders of the lgbt community express, this may be too risky to go to the supreme

court. may not be the best move because there's too much at stake and if they rule that same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, it will take years and years and years to turn that around. >> people have been very worried about this. when this case was first brought, there was -- it was a big -- you know, there was a lot of fallout in the lgbt community. one of our main legal organizations was against the case being brought. a number of -- the human rights campaign weighed in against it. a number of lgbt organizations said don't do this! and chad griffin who is, interestingly now the president of the campaign -- >> bill: great guy. >> good guy. he, out in california, you know, put this together and formed this american federation for equal rights, afre and got a bunch of money on board. a lot of dollars out there in california to work with.

and hired these incredibly dynamic -- this dynamic -- dynamic duo. ted olson who is one of the best conservative lawyers and david boyce, one of the best liberal lawyers nationwide. and if we're -- here's what i will say. ted olson has i think argued as many if not more cases in front of the supreme court than almost any lawyer in the nation right now. he's right up there at the top. i'm not sure if that's number one. >> bill: former solicitor general of the united states. >> absolutely. if we're going to go to the supreme court and argue this case, at the very least i am heartened by the fact that ted olson, who was a conservative lawyer who knows how to speak to the conservative justice disses on that court is going to be arguing that case. we want the best of the best. right now, we've got the best of best who are going to argue that case. >> bill: it will be interesting to see antonin scalia and ted olson you

know -- battling it out. >> don't we wish we could have -- this is really -- of this generation, this is one of the most important sort of civil rights cases the supreme court will you know have considered in maybe decades. >> bill: i want you to speak more about that when we come back okay. i was going to ask you that question about how important this case really is. in terms of nationwide impact. kerry eleveld with us here in studio. talking about this major major move by the supreme court on marriage equality. how can they possibly rule against it under the constitution? i don't see how they could. 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv.

jennifer > it's these "talking points" that the right have about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: joe cirincione is our >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: here we go. 25 minutes after the hour. the "full court press." we're going to talk about what's happening in michigan. big day in michigan today with the legislature poised to give final passage to the so-called right-to-work legislation which at this point governor rick schneider, until he hears from you has said he will sign it. in studio with us, kerry eleveld. we're talking marriage equality and the supreme court. kerry, i have to say -- you've made this point before. we've come a long way since 2004 when there were 10 or 11 initiatives -- >> 11 in 2004 and i think -- about three more in 2006.

>> bill: to make it constitutional in different states. today we have nine states with washington and maine -- >> that have legalized it. >> bill: that have legalized it plus the district of columbia. so clearly the trend is moving. >> the trend is moving. the problem that we have is that you know, that the anti-gay forces did something that was really smart which is who knows if they did this -- if it was pressure or what but the public opinion was moving our way. culturally, gays and lesbians, bisexuals getting much more accepted into american culture into the fabric, right. >> bill: yeah. >> and then what they did was get ahead of that public opinion and enshrined discrimination in the state constitution so it will be very difficult to undo for many years. there's 29, about 30 what people call mini doma states. states that have constitution constitutionally prohibit

same-sex marriage. that would take -- that could take decades to undo and it could be undone -- >> bill: which gets to the question about what the significance of this decision -- potential impact of this decision is. >> the potential impact of this decision either way it is going to be probably -- you know, for our community and i'm not saying marriage is the only thing. there's employment, nondiscrimination protections we still lack. there are any number of things you can go through. but this decision, in so many ways, i think, will be -- i hate to use the word impactful because supposedly it is not a word. but one of the most impactful decisions on our community that will come from the supreme court ever for sure. it will either set back the march toward marriage equality and you know, people talk about marriage. this is -- we're talking about having a legal relationship to your child if it's not your biological child. we're talking about being able to get social security benefits. we're talking about guarantees of getting on your partner's health insurance.

>> bill: hospital visits. >> basic stuff that makes your life stable and secure. >> bill: i have to interrupt you there. that's why it's so important and the supreme court has to do the right thing. kerry eleveld thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: as always, we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> nobody knows disasters like comedians. that's why for my upcoming benefit for victims of hurricane sandy, i booked the strongest, smartest comics i could find. my comedian friends and i will raise money to rebuild homes and lives one laugh at a time. so tune in next friday for my all star comedy special. >> together we can get new yorkers back to yelling at strangers and ignoring our friends.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go ton this tuesday morning. -- here we go on this tuesday

morning. it is december 11. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. wrapping up the big stories of the day. and the number one big story of the day today is showdown day in michigan. on friday. the republican-controlled state legislature rammed through a so-called right to work bill which governor rick schneider suddenly having promised he didn't want anything to do with that, flipped and said oh no, i will sign it if it gets to my desk. there have been protests in the nation's capital. more of them scheduled today. meetings with the governor to try to get him to change his mind and we are helping joining our brothers and sisters across the country and organized labor putting pressure on the governor not to sign that bill. and you can do so, peter how? >> we've got contact information. we've tweeted it out at bpshow. we've put it on our facebook page. you can call his office at

517-3673-34 -- 517-373-3400. you can find him on twitter at onetoughnerd. you have to spell it all out. onetoughnerd. a couple of comments on that from the current chat room. current.com/billpress. >> he should change his twitter to one tough lying nerd. michigan is looking like wisconsin's twin sister. and our friend igor volsky from think progress who was just in studio a couple of hours ago says i'm hearing that paul ryan is considering changing -- is considering onetoughnerd as his presidential campaign slogan in 2016. no truth to that rumor as of yet. find us at bpshow for all of the information. >> bill: covering this whole story in michigan and the latest battle ground for labor unions in this country went through wisconsin and ohio and now michigan, amanda terkel is senior political reporter and politics managing editor for "the huffington post."

amanda, nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> bill: welcome back in studio. >> thank you. >> bill: so first of all this is something that rick schneider said he didn't want to be a divisive kind of person like john kasich or scott walker. he was -- yesterday we had the head of the michigan national education association -- >> steve cook. >> bill: steve cook, thank you, on the program. who said they've been meeting with the governor, issues about how to resolve the issue. he knew there was a possibility the legislature might do something. he didn't want anything to do with it. he would not sign it if it came to his desk. what happened? >> labor leaders have been telling -- i've also spoken with steve cook. they said that right, they were negotiating with the governor for weeks. they believed he was acting in good faith. and they thought that there was a way to avoid having this right to work bill so it's called go to the governor's desk and have him sign it. then they said all of a sudden, on wednesday they got word that

this was all coming down. the governor was going to sign it and they basically were taken completely off-guard. completely by surprise. >> bill: was he lying to them or did the koch brothers get to him? >> that's really unclear. some of the lawmakers michigan's congressional delegation, the democrats met with the governor and they said that his answers were really inconclusive. they still weren't really clear why he suddenly changed his mind. >> bill: well, if this passes today, at this point when it is finally tweaked today. we know it is going to pass. he says he will definitely sign it. the democratic legislators who met with him are trying to get him to change his mind and go back to where he was. i'm not going to sign it. or as a back-up to have a measure -- an amendment or a rider in the legislation which would say this would go to a vote of the people in 2014. is that likely to happen? what do you hear?

>> it is unlikely to happen. that's sort of, at this point their last hope is okay, they want to go forward with this. at least put it to a vote in front of the people. if you're so confident -- >> bill: like they did in ohio. >> exactly. this is such a big issue. people should decide it. also, the governor has line item veto power and right now it can't go before the people because of the spending bill. spending bills can't be put to a referendum so the governor could simply, with the line item veto power strike the line that has the spending and labor could put it before the people. >> bill: so under present michigan law if the governor -- if it is written today without an automatic referral to the people referendum or whatever you would call it and if the governor does indeed sign it, there would be no way under michigan law that they could collect enough signatures to put this on the ballot in 2014? >> there's something called a citizens initiative. i haven't looked at what that is exactly. they're starting to investigate that as another possible way. it is important to point out

too, that this law this right-to-work law, would not apply to current contracts. anyone under a current contract would be under the old rule. no new contracts were worked out and labor could repeal this in 2014, nothing would change. >> bill: president obama was in redford michigan, yesterday. and you know, he was criticized by me, among others, for staying out of the wisconsin fight much too long. he finally got into it at the very end and he did endorse an ohio -- but again, at the very end. i was the one who asked jay carney that question. yesterday he didn't hesitate to jump into the michigan law saying exactly what he think right to work is all about. >> obama: these so-called right-to-work laws, they don't have to do with economics. they have everything to do with politics. [ cheering ] >> obama: what they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. >> bill: i'm sure you've done some research on this. "new york times" pointing out

this morning that in state after state and there's some 23 states that now have right-to-work legislation, workers there on average, make less money have less safe working conditions and the poverty rate is higher. i think they're all red states than in other states. so why would legislators vote for these right to work? why would people support them? >> you're exactly right. there's no evidence that this helps states economically and it doesn't help working families. politically, it does seem to help republicans. what this would do is it would take away a lot of the financial firepower of unions. >> bill: that's what it is about. >> that's what president obama said, this is all political. >> bill: what they're trying to do like john kasich and scott walker did is destroy the unions in order to destroy the democratic party. or help destroy. >> because unions tend to support democrats and so who is going after the unions, it tends to be republicans.

>> bill: amanda terkel here from "huffington post." 1-866-55-press. you want to join the conversation. latest battleground for organized labor. suddenly popped up here in michigan. amanda, my understanding is from talking to steve cook and also reading the afl-cio post on this morning on their web site, that this was pushed through the legislature on friday. no public hearings. no debate on the floor. no public input as to -- which would get at a hearing. for or against it. and that the public wasn't even allowed inside of the building, the state capitol while they were debating it -- or passing it. so this is really -- like a coup d'etat, right? >> there were some -- ten republicans in the state legislature who voted against it. >> bill: that's a good point.

it wasn't just the democrats who opposed it. >> i talked to a couple of them. one of them, for example said look, i actually haven't made up my mind on right to work. why i voted against it was they should not have pushed it through this way. he's like i didn't have time to read the bill. i wanted to hear from my constituents on this issue. i didn't get a chance to do it. so i couldn't, in good conscience, vote for it. so that issue was a major issue for many of the republicans who voted for it with also some of them saying right to work is wrong for michigan. >> bill: finally to put this in context michigan did have an initiative on the ballot november 6th which would have enshrined collective bargaining into the state constitution. the koch brothers, big corporations, spent a lot of money against it. maybe labor didn't do enough to try to get it passed. at any rate, it failed. it failed -- it wasn't even close as i understand it in michigan. so is this so-called right-to-work legislation payback for trying to get collective bargaining in the

constitution? >> i think there is a good case to be made. the republicans i talked to who are pushing right to work said labor and democrats opened the door with proposition 2. we're simply finishing it. they saw that the failure of prop 2 was sort of a mandate for them to push forward which i don't think labor and many people even who voted against proposition 2 saw it that way. >> bill: from our calls this morning, i don't think the people of michigan expected rick schneider to go in this direction. again, he had promised the public as well as legislators and une leaders he didn't want anything to do with the right to work battle. he did not michigan to become the next battleground. he didn't want to be a divisive governor the way scott walker and john kasich have proven to be. we're off to war against rick sha nidor in michigan. 1-866-55-press. join the conversation. maybe you live in a right to work state and have some

experience you can talk about. particularly in michigan. michigan is a a state that was create -- created by labor unions and probably a hire percentage of labor unions in michigan than any other state. we'll be right back with amanda terkel from "huffington post." >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

let's rock and roll. there is so much going on that every day presents another exciting issue. from financial regulation, iran getting a nuclear bomb, civil war in syria, fraud on wall street, destruction of medicare

and medicaid. there are real issues here. having been a governor, i know that trade-offs are tough. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. i want our viewer to understand why things have happened. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its what's going to happen tomorrow. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." a. >> bill: on it tuesday morning, december 11, the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. amanda terkel from "huffington

post" in studio with us talking michigan michigan. and the war on unions. latest front in the war on unions. back to your comments and our conversation in just a minute. but these days, with a lot of people having a hard time making ends meet at the end of the month, here's something you might want to consider. incomeathome.com. they're america's leading work from home business doing business today in over 80 countries and offering you an opportunity. you can easily take advantage of it no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own computer from your own kitchen table 24/7. all you need is a little spare time. so if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement if your goal has always been to earn some extra money from home, part-time or even full time, check out incomeathome.com. they're even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. visit incomeathome.com.

that's income incomeathome.com. amanda, peter keeps his eye on the twitter and facebook world. >> yes, indeed. one story people are talking about, he's back. he's back. we reported that karl rove and dick morris had been benched at fox news. >> bill: that didn't take long, did it? >> yesterday karl rove turned up again on special report with bret baier. so all of these reports about him being benched may or may not be true. >> bill: what was it? a week? yeah maybe. >> wasn't that long. >> bill: i guess dick morris will be back on sean hannity tonight. >> god help us if he does show back up but yeah. clearly taking them off the bench. >> bill: as long as you're willing to bash barack obama you'll have a home on fox. no doubt about it. so amanda, this is -- this is not going to end. even if rick schneider signs

this bill today. >> no. >> bill: this is going to be an on-going battle. >> it will keep going. you will see attempts to repeal the bill. whether passing new legislation attempts perhaps to recall the legislators who voted for it. there will be the elections in 2014. i think it has woken labor up a little bit that they need to be on the watch for other states. if this passes, other republican governors will be looking at michigan and saying i can do what rick schneider did. >> bill: my friends said this has also awakened them to the fact that you can't just focus on u.s. senate races u.s. congressional races the white house, governor's races are as important. and maybe not enough attention to races like this where rick schneider gets elected and basically a democratic state and tried to turn it on its head. let's go out to michigan and say hello in southfield to maria. thanks for your call. what's up?

>> caller: i just wanted to say that i am angry with rick schneider and republican legislators but i'm also very angry with the republican union members that voted rick schneider in and republican legislators after obama threw them a lifeline. this state would have closed its doors, turned out the lights and it would have been over for michigan! and after obama was elected they still turned around and voted in rick schneider and they were warned that -- they were warned when virg bernero tried to debate rick schneider and he refused to debate him. they were warned. when we tried to recall him i stood out on street corners tried to get voters to sign up to recall are rick schneider when he was going around trying to fire city councilmen and mayors. republican, union members would not sign the petition to recall

him. they wouldn't vote for prop 2. they knew and now it is hurting them in the pocketbook. and maybe they'll learn now that this is not george romney's republican party anymore. >> bill: maria i think there are a lot of people who -- we've had calls from a couple this morning, buyer's remorse about rick schneider because he's turned out not to be the person they thought he was. and that he's voting for -- jim in fowler, indiana. hi jim. >> caller: good morning, bill. how you doing? >> bill: good. >> caller: good morning to you. bill, i grew up in detroit. i worked in the auto plants in detroit. i now live in indiana which is a right to work state. i've also worked at a nonunion auto plant in indiana. let me tell you union plants are far superior! the employees at ununion plants are treated so badly it is just pathetic. and i really wouldn't worry

about karl rove. far more dangerous hook up with glenn beck than karl rove ever was. >> bill: all right. good to hear from you. amanda, that point. there's a lot of evidence and i'm sure you looked at this in the so-called right to work states that for workers that's where they really get the shaft. >> this is a big deal. not just at the political level but at the individual level. having fewer unionized workplaces having right to work states, it tends to work the individual workers. they make less. they have worse working conditions. this has played out state after state. michigan will become the 24th state to be a right to work state. it will be joining other states that have worse working conditions and worse economies. >> bill: as the president said yesterday, too, it is an invitation to free load. people say hey i can get all of the benefits of the union and i don't have to pay my dues. >> that's what a lot of union members who wrote into us said they're worried about. >> bill: amanda terkel, good

work on this. >> thank you. >> bill: thanks so much. you can follow her work at huffingtonpost.com. follow her on twitter at aterkel. we'll be right back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands! cinnamon rolls. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ ♪ get to holiday fun faster with pillsbury cookie dough.

(vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays now at 9 and noon eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: and on this tuesday december 11, my parting shot for today as we've been talking all morning, a blatant display of blind partisan political

partisanship, the michigan state legislature has rushed through a bill making michigan a so-called right to work state. it is an outrageous move, especially in the state of michigan. a state built by unions which has one of the highest percentage of union members in the country. but what happened to michigan should come as no surprise. exactly what scott walker tried to do and john kasich tried to do in ohio which is to kill the democratic party by killing labor unions. republicans can't win honestly. can't win elections honestly so they try to cheat. first by suppressing the vote and then by destroying the base of the democratic party. what i want to know is when will republicans finally figure it out? if they really don't want labor unions to support only democratic candidates, if they would really like labor unions to support some republican candidates then why don't they vote the right way? why don't they support issues that help working families like

extending unemployment insurance or voting for the jobs bill? if they do that, of course, unions would be happy to support republican candidates. my parting shot for today. eliot spitzer on the show tomorrow morning. have a great one folks! ♪ ♪ the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500. ♪ ♪ with the best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. ♪ ♪ guts. glory. ram.